Paint powders can be messy. They are vibrant, beautiful additions to many different sectors of the world, but they are messy. One manufacturer, Peridium Powder Coatings, a division of Vogel Industrial Coatings, sought to solve some of the processing problems it was experiencing that were leading to lost product, difficult clean ups, and challenging installations at the points where their product transfer tubes needed movement or to account for vibration. Peridium Powder Coatings connected with Powder-Solutions Inc. (PSI) to convert its processing lines to utilize BFM fitting snap-in flexible sleeves.
    
Peridium Powder Coatings, headquartered in Orange City, IA, is an independently owned company manufacturing industrial paints and coatings since 1926. Seven facilities are located across the U.S. which process and package paints and coatings to supply directly to customers within the construction, automotive, fitness, furniture, agriculture, lawn and garden, and consumer products industries. The company’s commitment to providing the highest value of powder technology has continued to facilitate its growth and leadership within the industry over the last 20 years
    
PSI worked with Tom Hubers, corporate engineer, on the review, purchase, and upgrade installation of BFM fittings. Hubers works on internal projects throughout the company at all seven of its facilities. The production manager was the one who brought up the BFM fitting to Hubers, alerting him that it may be beneficial for them to install these sleeves on to its equipment.
    
At these problematic connection points, for lack of better options during the initial installation of their equipment, they had installed plastic material to contain powders flowing from one component to the other, fastened up by tape to serve as their flexible connectors. “Our previous setup was wasteful; we used a lot of garbage bags and tape, and it was inconvenient to always clean and install,” said Hubers.
    
Blow Out
Another issue that Peridium Powder Coatings faced was what the company categorizes as a, “blow out.” A “blow out” was classified as any situation where the plastic would rip or the tape would come lose on the equipment connection and the product would spill out, covering the equipment and the floor. These scenarios always created a difficult mess to clean up. Powder paints are a light product, resulting in several things getting dirty, which require a long, detailed clean up time. This would result in production downtime as the cleaning and resolution process took place. In their minds, the plastic and tape serving as a connector was not time or cost efficient, so they pursued a better solution.
   
PSI has been distributing the BFM fitting to the powder processing industry within the U.S. since 2009. Based in Chanhassen, MN, PSI saw the BFM fitting as a no-brainer when it came to solving processing problems within its sister company, Powder Process-Solutions, which specializes in custom sanitary powder processing equipment for the food, dairy, and nutritional industries. Though the BFM fitting is designed to be able to flourish in high sanitation processing scenarios, the dust-tight installation and cleanability expanded its reach beyond the sanitary processing industry and moved into the pigment, cement, toner, petrochemical, and grain industries as well.
    
Full BFM fitting assemblies consist of two stainless steel spigots that are welded onto equipment or processing lines at the inlets and outlets. The BFM fitting flexible sleeve component, which comes in many sizes and materials, contains two stainless steel snap bands installed between the flexible material, one on the top and one on the bottom. These bands snap into place on the interior of the spigots, creating a repeatable, dust-tight installation of the sleeve every time. Removal is simple for cleaning or replacement.
    
“The BFM fitting offers a dust-tight, quick and seamless installation and removal process, while protecting the equipment and employees from nuisance and sometimes dangerous product leakage,” said Marv Deam, CEO of Powder-Solutions Inc. “Though we initially saw it as a great solution for our high sanitation applications, we’re happy to see how it’s also been able to protect industries, like the paint industry in this situation, from problems stemming from product leakage, production downtime, and potential cross-contamination issues.”
    
Being on the safe side, Hubers mentioned the fact that Peridium Powder Coatings decided to install one BFM fitting assembly and see how it worked in its facility with its product. After the initial trial period, the company decided that the product had delivered what they were looking for, and had eliminated the “blow outs” that were previously experienced. The company has continued to install BFM fittings on all of its moving process tubes, as production has allowed for it.
    
Waste Reduction
They have been pleased with the decrease in the amount of waste produced by switching, and are pleased with the clean set-up that the sleeves offer. Hubers has received nothing but positive responses from the maintenance crew in regards to the new flexible connectors, as they’ve been happy with the ease of use with the BFM fitting as well.
    
Hubers notes to anyone that is interested in the BFM fitting, “It is a great product for any application that requires movement or is tied into something that is vibrating. It’s the solution that wasn’t there five to 10 years ago for maintaining a tight fit and keeping product enclosed.”
    
Peridium Powder Coatings plans to invest more with the BFM fitting on the powder side of the business as more opportunities present themselves.
    
For more information, visit www.powder-solutions.com.